Central Asia

[william becker]

True, so much relies on the awareness of the facilitator....if we could only
read minds!
----- Original Message -----
From: "uwe.weissflog" <Uwe.Weissflog at t-online.de>
To: <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
Sent: Monday, August 27, 2001 4:08 PM
Subject: Re: Central Asia


> Dear William,
> thanks for bringing Peter Bloch into this conversation, I, too, have
learned
> much from his work. In his book Stewardship (and also in an interview he
had
> with Michael Toms) he points to the differences of "leadership" and
> "stewardship". My take on this subject is, that leadership (even in its
most
> refined form) is still about having control over people and stewardship is
the
> capability to give up the desire for control and instead focus on service
(maybe
> in the sense of Greenleaf, or more directly as Hermann Hesse describes it
in
> "The journey to the East").
>
> Which brings me back to Kenoli's original email. When we invite into Open
Space
> we overcome the mindset of leadership and we become servants, in its
truest
> sense. We invite people to boldly step forward and take care for their own
> lifes, which is new for many people. When, after the introduction in Open
Space
> someone steps into the circle to state a theme and then take
responsibiliby for
> convening a group, (s)he is also making a claim on her/his life.
>
> But herein lies also the dilema. Many of our clients are established
> organisations and corporations. It doesn't really matter whether
for-profit or
> non-profit, the underlying structures seem the same to me. These are
> organisations with clearly defined (often hierachical) power and control
> structures. These structures eventual will clash with the basic principle
of
> Open Space (we are all of equal importance) and possibly to a lesser
degree with
> the principles of FSC and Learning Organisations. This has been reported
many
> times (I find the "Dance of Change, P.Senge et al" worth reading in this
> regard). This dilema will be with us as long as we continue to be part of
the
> conversation called "Who has power over whom".
>
> So the question then is, what can we do? In my experience (I have
facilitated
> both Open Space and Future Search in technology and R&D environments, as
well as
> in community work) a dedication to "requesting and telling the truth" is
the
> only antidote (easy to say, difficult to do, I failed here more often than
I
> like). But it works. In cases where the boundaries and limitations were
stated
> clearly, at the beginning of the process, the resulting action plans had a
> chance to be transformed into sustainable action. And people had a chance
to
> nurture their passion in a sustainable way. More easily in my experience
in FSC,
> but also successfully in Open Space. My learning from this is, that people
can
> live with constraints and limitations, but not with deception and lies.
This is
> were the courage and integrity of the facilitator will show - I found it a
> challenging but most rewarding way of being a facilitator.
>
> Thanks again to all who brought this topic into the conversation - it gave
me
> the time and space for some real mindfulness.
>
> Uwe Weissflog
> Pathway Guidance, Rinnengaerten 1, 34516 Voehl-Marienhagen, Germany
> email: uwe.weissflog at pathwayguidance.com
> email (personal): uwe.weissflog at t-online.de
> phone: 49-5635-991197; fax: 49-5635-993934
>
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